


System Failure

by doctorsnug (gabewrites)



Category: TWRP | Tupper Ware Remix Party (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fjhdkgjdkfjdf, great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 23:04:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabewrites/pseuds/doctorsnug
Summary: Sung is always happy, always pushing forward, always supporting his friends, always always always!





	System Failure

**Author's Note:**

> This is angsty and im SORRY but it ends happy :,)

It was not a good night, not in any sense of the word. Sung had started out the night with the same amount of energy that he carried at any show, a big smile on his face and spring in his step. He loved performing, looking out into the crowd and seeing the smiles of everyone who had come out to see them. But this show- something was off. He could feel that the other guys weren’t getting as into it as they usually did, and that was when all that weight on his shoulders finally started to make him drag his feet.

He couldn’t keep his energy up, not with Meouch sulking and getting all grumpy, not with the lack of effort coming from everyone else. It was putting him in a sour mood real damn fast. He knew they sounded alright, and he knew that the crowd was still engaged, especially when they cheered for more, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t good enough. That he wasn’t giving it his all.

By the time they reached the last few songs he could feel himself counting down, his patience snapping as a seething sort of rage filled him. He couldn’t do anything about it, but he felt himself tense, felt his body language close in, and felt his face warm up under his helmet. He wanted off the god damn stage and he wanted off now. He needed a minute- maybe an hour alone.

He tapped his foot impatiently to the beat, his dancing came out painfully lackluster, and if he hadn’t known better he would have believed it if someone told him he was legitimately steaming with anger visibly. Not everyone, but a few people in the front rows could tell, and Sung could only get angrier at the night when a look of concern filled the faces of a few of their fans. That was his fault, everyone’s fault for not performing at their best. If it was possible, Sung would have given everyone in that room a refund.

He-  _ The band _ wasn’t worth their money if they couldn’t get their act together.

As soon as their set was over, Sung grabbed a few things and headed out of the venue. He went as quickly as he could, aiming to get to the van and have a second alone until he realized the guys had all rushed behind him anyway, his helmet barely off and sat to the side before he was stormed in on. His antennae were angrily pinned back against his head and started buzzing.

He felt red hot anger shaking through his frame, hitting hardest in his neck, grabbing his throat and twisting it off. He had to take a breath to open it back up, and even then, his words came out gravelly, sounding almost painful. “I’m fucking pissed off, alright, don’t talk to me.” He turned away from whoever had entered the van first, not caring to know. He needed some time alone and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, he didn’t want to blow up about it. He wanted to keep it calm and controlled, brush it off for a more convenient time.

“Aw, Doc, come on, you don’t really-“ Sung tried, he really did, but something about Meouch’s tone snapped a final thread of pissed-off. It finally threw away the last building block keeping his shit together. So before Meouch could finish, he snapped around, looking him right in the eye and clenching his hands into fists at his sides. He was serious about this, as much as he could joke, as much as the others could poke fun at him for never really meaning it. Meouch’s tail stuck up when he saw Sung’s antennae shoot straight above his head, electricity pulsing visibly around them. 

“Actually, yeah, I do fucking feel that way.” The words were spat out more harshly then he had originally intended, but he couldn’t hold himself back once he had let them go, a throbbing ache forming in his temples. A shooting pain went through his head when a bolt of electricity made contact with the roof of the van. “I can’t always be a fucking ray of sunshine for everyone’s convenience, so why don’t you get off the fucking van and give me like-“ Sung took another deep breath, and the waver in it, the shakiness, the completely broken form of a sigh hit Meouch like a punch to the gut. He tried to but in and assure Sung that everything would be okay, but rage welled up again until Sung could feel tears welling up behind his eye. Painful to hold back until closed it and yelled without a second thought. “Give me five god damn minutes alone!”

The shock of a loud yell rang through the van, along with a slam of the van door as Meouch exited angrily, mumbling under his breath as he kicked the door. “What the fuck is his problem?” The other two guys stared quietly at the situation, not wanting to make anything worse but fighting an edge of curiosity. A loud slam was heard from the inside of the van and Phobos jumped a little in surprise, swallowing thickly and preparing to break the tension.

_ ‘Is…Is he alright?’ _ Phobos signed in Meouch’s direction when he looked up, a nervous look on his face. The tinted windows prevented them from seeing Sung inside, but he had turned away from his band members regardless, sinking down onto the floor next to one of the seats with his head in his hands. The anger that had been tearing him up inside quickly dissipated to sadness; it welled up into something lonely. He never yelled like that, never got so angry- and Meouch- oh Meouch…he didn’t deserve that.

“Shit…” Sung felt the weak way that his voice broke, an ache in his stomach, and he couldn’t stop himself from shaking. He only noticed when he held his hands out and watched them tremor. Alone in the van, where there was usually post-concert celebration, road trip singing with friends, funny stories about antics on their own home planets compared to Earth. All the memories in the van- he didn’t want to lose that, he couldn’t lose his friends. He couldn’t lose the only people who cared and helped him launch his pipe dream of a synth band. And that’s when the tears came.

He felt so cold, in temperature and attitude.

He didn’t want anyone to see him cry, not because crying was a sign of weakness, but because he was supposed to be the one who was put together. Sung was supposed to be happy and eager to have fun, and ready to bring everyone up after a bad night. He was supposed to make everyone feel better, and he couldn’t right now. His jaw was clenched shut as streams of tears finally dropped from his eye down to his chin, dripping off and onto the floor.

It was a silent sort of cry, a few sniffles and moments of hitched breath, and when he looked outside at the sky all he could feel were more tears following the trail that the previous had paved down his face. He sat in that cold silence and put his head back in his hands until he heard a muffled yell from Meouch outside and stood up carefully to look, legs a little wobbly as he wiped his tear-soaked hands off. He couldn’t hear the words, but he could see Meouch talking with his paws.

“Sung is in there feeling like shit because we couldn’t get it together and put on a good show, and that’s not his fault, guys!” Meouch walked back to lean against the van, obviously stressed as he ran his paws through his mane. He didn’t know that Sung was right above him looking out to window, couldn’t see through the tinted windows and wouldn’t have bothered to look. Meouch let out a big sigh and drug his paw down his face. “We need to give the guy some slack alright? He can’t drag our asses through like that, not when he-“ Meouch let out a sad sort of laugh, a bittersweet smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “He’s done so much for us.”

Sung watched his friends staring at their feet, watched Meouch push up from the van and pull Havve and Phobos into a hug. A tight one and a long one, secure and warm and- Sung felt a few tears drop off onto his arm. He wanted to be smothered in that hug. He wanted to feel safe and warm, and especially to give Meouch the hug he deserved and apologize for yelling at him.

As they all broke away from a hug, Meouch heard the click of the van unlocking, but he turned and stopped for a moment before going to enter. “Should I just-“ Phobos shrugged, then Havve nodded, backing off and leaving Meouch the space to make it to the van. They all seemed to silently agree that Meouch was the best choice to sort things out. This was his place.

Sung quickly turned away from the door once he had unlocked it, sitting on the edge of one of the van seats and missing out on watching their deliberation. He couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift while he sat in silence, wondering if he had been left alone. He tried to calm down, but he was breathing heavily when more tears were falling out of his control. He would have gone through a miserable night like that if Meouch hadn’t quietly opened the door, expression soft but slightly pained when he saw Sung’s face and drooping antennae.

He quickly looked down again when he realized Meouch had seen him looking so miserable, hoping that maybe they could ignore how pathetic he looked and pretend nothing ever happened. He could just dry his face and kick himself back into gear, push everything back down and have a good time. He had done it before, and it was no big deal. Until Meouch scooted up next to him and put an arm around his shoulder, immediately turning the waterworks back on. “You don’t have to-“ Sung sniffled a little, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking away, wincing when tears fell down into his lap. “Meouch, you really don’t have to, I can…”

Meouch was getting watery eyes just watching his friend try to deny help, and he squeezed Sung’s shoulder to try to keep his attention. When Sung stayed silent for too long Meouch took his free paw under Sung’s chin turning his face up so that they could lock eyes. It was a worthless effort, but not a meaningless one when Meouch’s other paw moved briefly to wipe a few stray tears away from Sung’s face. His eye’s only clenched shut and his expression fought its way back a silent sob. He had half a mind to apologize for getting tears on Meouch’s paw.

“Doc…” Meouch tried to get Sung to look at him again but he couldn’t bring himself to look back up again, instead throwing himself forward into Meouch’s chest and finally letting out the sob that had been waiting, loud and obnoxious even when muffled by the flannel Meouch had thrown on over his costume. Meouch felt his own tears slowly well up as he held Sung close, listening to him cry and rubbing his back gently. “Christ…c’mere Doc, it’s gonna be alright.” He could feel the front of his shirt getting soaked through, but he only held Sung closer, wishing that he knew a way to calm the shivers that wracked through his body.

The only thing keeping him grounded was the gentle paw on his back as his mind wandered to everything that had gone wrong, how awful and rude he was to Meouch earlier, how bad he had made Havve and Phobos feel while they waited outside. But Meouch holding him close was all he needed to let it out, chest heaving a little while he hiccupped at the end of something that sounded almost pained, like he didn’t have much left in him.

It didn’t take much heavy crying like that for Sung to get a little dizzy and tired out, and he had no choice but to try to calm himself down, blinking away as many of the tears as he could and trying to lift himself back up to sit. His head felt heavy, and his eye tired and sore, but most of all he sniffled and tried to ignore his need for a tissue or a towel or something to clean up his mess of a face. His eye was downcast at his feet again until Meouch handed him the flannel he had thrown on after the show. “Meouch, n-no…”

“Yes.” He kept a paw on Sung’s shoulder, using the sleeve of the flannel to wipe to wipe some tears off of Sung’s face when he wouldn’t take it. “I don’t need it- I have how many- and I’m not even out of my other clothes yet, I’ll throw on another one later.” Meouch held out the shirt and Sung still had a guilty look on his face, like he thought he had already done enough harm.

He still wasn’t done with shaky hitched in his breathing from when he had been crying, and they made him feel stupid when he couldn’t get through a sentence. “I…I- I’m suh-sorry for-“ Sung hiccupped a little, not letting his eye meet Meouch’s as he sniffled again. “Sorry for c-crying all over your shirt.”

Sung tried to keep looking away and sniffling in peace, but Meouch held his shirt up to Sung’s face, not taking no for an answer. “And snot- come on, I’m not letting you stay a miserable mess.” Sung sucked it up and blew his nose hard into Meouch’s shirt, not able to hold back a few small laughs when Meouch cringed at the feeling of Sung blowing his nose into the snotty, wet shirt.

It was Sung, however, who grabbed the shirt and threw it on the seat behind them, trying to lighten the mood by keeping the laughter up. “Wow that’s gross.” Sung tried to stand up, but Meouch’s arm kept him on the seat, not letting him escape.

“Woah there, Doc.” Meouch still managed to hold him close, giving a comfortable shoulder for him to lean on. “Tell me what happened, you need to let it out, I’ll listen.” Sung was reluctant, but Meouch was persistent, keeping a relentless silence in place until Sung spoke. His tail snaked it’s way around Sung’s frame as well, patting him on the head.

“I guess it was just…” Sung sighed, speaking softly. “Something like- fear.” He settled into Meouch’s shoulder, pulling his feet up onto the seat so he could curl up a little. He was thankful for te softness of Meouch’s mane. Meouch let out a soft ‘mhm’ to let Sung know he was listening. “I have so much fun performing, and hanging out with you guys but-“ Sung was kicking himself for choking up again, and he felt Meouch’s paw on his back again. “I don’t ever want to be the only one having a good time- I don’t want you guys to stop caring.”

Meouch frowned at the thought, of Sung feeling left alone or abandoned. Sung wiped away stray tears that he wished weren’t falling again. “I care about y-you- all of you- and you guys are the best friends I have, y’know.” Sung giggled a little through tears, wishing he had kept the gross snot shirt. “Wh-who else am I going to convince into tight spandex and d-dealing with how bad I smell on tour.” He couldn’t help the stream of tears when Meouch’s other paw held the side of his face, not because he was sad, but because he had so much emotion to express.

“Doc…” Meouch started, but Sung interrupted, saying that he wasn’t finished.

“Wh-when I’m on stage-“ Sung stopped to catch his breath, to really concentrate on speaking. “Those are the best moments of my life, the high points that I can n-never forget.” Sung’s voice wavered but it kept a strength, something like pride. “I feel how far we’ve come, I see how many people are impacted positively by what we do- and the best part is that I get to do it all with the- the best fucking people I know.” He laughed again, especially when he felt Meouch’s tears falling into his hair. “And I just never want to lose you guys- I want us to all love each other and support each other and have fun with each other forever.” Sung didn’t bother wiping away the tears this time, grinning when Meouch held onto him tighter. Sung’s antennae had finally started to perk up, their normal faint blue rather than the deep blue- almost black- that they had been before.

Meouch was smiling too, and he was taken by surprise when Sung sat up and pulled him into a tight hug, finally feeling warmth under his skin again. “Doc- you fucking sap…”

Sung just smiled, showing no signs of letting go anytime soon and his antennae  “Sorry for yelling at you earlier.” Meouch laughed harder, and Sung wiped away tears while laughing into Meouch’s chest.

“Don’t apologize-“ Meouch looked outside at Phobos and Havve waiting with a smile. “Let’s get them in here and get on the road, huh?”

Sung smiled as they broke apart and fanned his face a little, knowing that he still looked like a mess. “Yeah- let’s get going.”


End file.
